Fiber Arts Ring

Stitchin' Fingers

Ring of Blog Tatters

Sunday, February 27, 2011

I was up way too late last night and woke up way too early this morning so I kind of doubt I will get any more done on these today. I have some fabric ready to put them on but I'm still mulling it over.

I tatted these last night and left them to block As someone mentioned, it seemed like a lot of work, so I only made small inserts. They really didn't take all that long to tat and the crochet part generally goes much faster than tatting.

I used some of the thread I dyed last Spring which I think is size 30. I had so many threads wound and while they were initially labeled, in the dying frenzy later, I lost track of the size and brand. I have a lot of this color combo which I don't particularly like but that means I can save my favs for what I know will work out.

The top one is tatted in the dyed size 30 thread and I used some size 40 Venus thread for the crochet part. I wondered in the last post if the crocheted part was done with a smaller thread and from the way this worked out so nicely, I think it was.

The bottom one was tatted in the same size 30 dyed thread and I also used it for the crochet part. I decreased the chain stitches between sets of joins to only 1 stitch and it seemed to work out better too. I also used seed beads (size 11) in the picots where the crochet joined. I made sure the picot was loose enough for the crochet hook to move through later. It makes a nice row of beads. I debated on placing beads in other places but decided to limit it for this sample. They could be put in the bare spaces which is one way to regulate the length. Just slide the same number of beads on the bare thread each time before you start the ring and make sure you start the ring right next to the bead.

I was trying to think of a way to add a header if you don't crochet. You could tat a lock stitch chain (do not flip the 1st half stitch but do flip the 2nd half stitch for as long as you want) and join it at the appropriate picots. You could also chain across and only have a slight arch between joins. If you have a picot in the center of each chain arch, that gives you something to attach to the fabric. It won't have the width of the crocheted one but it might help the insertion keep its shape. Most tatting is primarily curved and you have to get tricky to come up with angles and corners.

I'm off to take a nap now and hopefully work on my taxes when I get back up. I'm also hoping to tat Victat's dagger heart so my next post might be about that - or it might be about the insertions in a bag. Got to keep you guessing!

incredibly beautiful! wow, I can't believe how pretty these are... I am just stunned. the color made such a huge difference too! I am a little jealous, the pattern is easy enough, I can crochet and tat both but wow, you made it look technical, lacy, delicate, complicated and again, incredibly beautiful! very impressive indeed!!!

I purposely chose to tat all the pieces in white, size 20, same brand thread, for some kind of consistency. If I were to really tat something in white, it would be a smaller thread because I think it's more delicate and lacy looking but the size 20 helps magnify errors and is sort of a blank canvas so that it's easier to imagine other ways of doing it. If I do happen to like the first result but not in white, I can always dye it.

When I saw the photos before reading your post, I immediately thought how cool the colors are! Obviously I'm not alone in that opinion! (And it's your own HDT!) Also the crochet band now looks perfect - thanks to your experiments. Another excellent post.